The Football Brainiacs

University of Oklahoma Edition

– Hey folks! This is K. I finally made it back to the good ol US of A! I will be traveling overseas again later this week on business but we’re in the process of trying to get some of the other guys to write about recruiting so that we can 1) bring y’all more information and 2) when I go out of town for work (which happens a lot) there aren’t gaps in the information.

– We’ll start the recruiting news of with a bit about Breiden Fehoko. He was originally planning on being at yesterday’s spring game. In fact he even let coach Stoops and coach Montgomery know that he was coming. He did make it to the mainland and has been in Lubbock but the family is not going to be able to make it up to Norman for a visit at all this trip. He is enjoying his time in Lubbock. It’s hard to deny that the family ties he has to Texas Tech are going to be tough to beat. With a brother on the team and another one who is a GA that’s the closest he would get to a home away from home. Having said that he’s clearly disappointed he couldn’t make it to Norman and he will be taking an official visit to Oklahoma of course. He holds Oklahoma in very high regard.

– I know while I was gone PJ Mbanasor received an offer from Texas and a number of sites have already assuaged fears most folks had about an offer. I can tell you that Texas was never really a threat and the way that they offered made them even less of a threat. Right now Oklahoma is the team to beat. He wants to see schools like Ohio State and Notre Dame and he’s definitely not the type of young man afraid to leave the south/home so while OU is a good spot we aren’t going to discount those visits.

– Spoke at length with star safety Kahlil Haughton on Friday before his trip to Oklahoma for the spring game. I was always under the impression that Baylor had the best shot at Haughton but the more I get to know him the more I believe Oklahoma is a major major major player in his recruitment. In fact I feel very good about OU’s chances. The impression I get from him is he really does love Oklahoma. Haughton is a special player in my opinion who can do everything you could possibly ask from a safety.

– Also, talked to Kylan Johnson, safety out of Skyline who recently picked up his first two offers from UCLA and Wisconsin and Oklahoma has definitely been in touch. He’s been speaking to coach Viney and coach Boulware. I’m starting to think that Oklahoma is going to be in a first come first serve situation at the safety and corner positions. I really believe that if Oklahoma recruits hard – meaning they stay in regular contact with the secondary players on the board – they will sign one the best secondary classes in the country and one of the best under coach Stoops tenure (at least on paper).

– Last week many of you probably noted that Oklahoma offered Iman Marshall. That was an offer we mentioned a couple weeks ago that we were hoping would happen since Iman and Kahlil McKenzie have talked a lot about playing together. I’ve spoken to Iman a little but I plan on calling him soon. Even if Iman isn’t a realistic possibility I still believe it sends a good message to Kahlil about how much Oklahoma wants him.

– UPDATE (Monday 5:00 am): Spoke to Kahlil Haughton last night about his trip to Oklahoma for the spring game. He told me that the trip only helped Oklahoma’s cause. As I said above, things between Oklahoma and Haughton seem very good. The name that continues to come up as I speak to the DBs in this region is coach Chip Viney, OU’s DB grad assistant. Haughton has built a good relationship with him.

The word I’ve gotten is that OU would like to take 2 (max 3) CBs and 2 safeties. The combination could be 2 corners and 2 safeties or at most 2 corners/3 safeties or 3 corners/2 safeties (in other words max would be 5 total DBs). With Jamile Johnson currently committed it’ll be interesting to see what happens with someone like Will Sunderland if Haughton commits. Throw in the fact that OU probably leads for Mbanasor and Lane (CBs) we’d already be looking at four DBs with only one possible spot left (and that’s if they decide to take 5) and OU still has a good chance at players like Boyd, Langley, and Ross.

– UPDATE (Monday 5:00 am): Also, wanted to mention that OU put out another 2016 offer. This time to OU legacy, Jared Mayden. Mayden made it to the OU spring game with his family. He’s a talented and a polished corner for his age. He’s already got a number of offers including Baylor, TCU, Texas and Texas A&M. We’ll need to catch up with Mayden but growing up in an OU house one would have to assume we’ve got a really good chance here.

ToatsMcGoats

Nice! I miss this type of content!!

Steve Cooke

In my on my opinion, from reading his twitter feed when I get the chance, I think he is OU’s to lose.

Zack

Mckenzie?

Steve Cooke

yep my bad.

Super K

Tennessee will be competition because that’s his daddy’s alma mater

Zack

I think the coaches at ou just need to recruit him hard and make him believe he could be a special player in their system. I’m not sure what Tennessee runs I guess I’ll get an idea of that this fall. And hopefully a win over them sways him a little more.

Also I heard Tim settle was in town this weekend. Did he make it to the spring game? And where do we stand with him?

Steve Cooke

Yes he made it in and he seemed to enjoy himself per twitter. He seems to love Coach Mont, but unless someone else has seen something I think we have a chance just don’t know how big.

1 – I like that we are putting the TE back into the offense. 2 – Where is Alex Ross? Hyped all spring, but only 3 carries? 3 – Daniel Brooks looked exactly as he was advertised………3 years ago! 4 – Not real concerned with TK’s subpar performance, but would love if Mayfield were eligible if for no other reason than to be a competitive push for TK. Not sure that the fact that TK’s job is so secure after only a handful of starts is a good thing. 5 – Where are the commits? It’s been a couple months now. 6 – Damn! We’re still 4 1/2 long months til kickoff!

Boomer!

Sooner Ray

Sooner!

Shelby is a Patriot

Not to mention how nice it would be to have an experienced QB like Mayfield as a solid backup. Trevor Knight got injured a lot last season, but hopefully that changes.

cpearc00

Any other word on Shannon other than the vague references to “personal issues”? I’ve seen references to potential legal trouble on other sites and Mike’s cryptic messages following the spring game don’t sound good for his future with the team.

Super K

Still trying to find out buddy.

Steve Cooke

I heard he got into a verbal exchange with a police officer over a speeding stop I believe. Its just a RUMOR though.

Sooner Ray

You could be right but the most common rumor I see involves a girl and baby going after him in court. Odd that nothing is public record yet.

soonerpeace

Important things to takeaway from yesterday. 1) Defense is very versatile and can substitute different players for different teams that we will play. Finally for the first time in a very very very longtime we have several players on defense that must be accounted for. It is huge when teams have to gameplan around players. Colvin was that kind of guy but now we have several in the DL. 2) Those agonizing over Sanchez should feel much much better. 3) I wouldn’t worry about Knight as Bradford in spring 2007 looked worse than any QB I have ever seen in a spring game and this defense is much much tougher than that one. 3) Flowers is much more explosive than Millard and starts much quicker. He is much harder to cover.Millard I seriously doubt can be duplicated ever by him as a blocker. 4) I think Brooks is going to be a player and I expect his speed to get better and better. Mixon will be interesting but I have been predicting if you really look at Perrine’s video that guy is going to play more than Mixon. He is Marshawn Lynch 2.0. He is physically ready to take on big charging linemen and he is like a train on swing passes. A corner faces the same dilemma as most will with Henry. Perrine separates himself in that he is simply hard to tackle. It isn’t always about out running or making guys miss. 5) Mayfield looks good but it so doesn’t matter for awhile. 6) Wide Receiver thoughts. Need a physical receiver like Smallwood to make their mark. McNamara I hope they figure out away to utilize as he looks like a potential Amaro. 7) There is competition a lot of places but the number one is running back between Ross and Ford. 8) Evans is going to be good. The kid is indeed athletic and I predict he will be similar to Travis Lewis in intercepting passes. I think that he will intercept a lot of passes before he is done and when you have teams like Baylor throwing into the middle it is a great thing. 9) I think some need to realize this defense is not a suffocating defense as much as it is a disrupting defense. It is going to give up yardage and plays but the negative plays are going to be substantial. We are going to put offenses in down and distance situations that they loathe. It will be a defense that gives up big plays on occasion but they are going to make it very very tough for teams to go the distance. I think the turnovers/sacks/TFL will be national leaders but not our yardage stats. 10) If 3-4 freshmen get a lot of playing time this team is off the charts good.

Big Higg

I wouldn’t put a whole lot of stock in how the defense looked yesterday. They don’t show people a whole lot in the spring game.

Shelby is a Patriot

Yeah, I believe Mike Stoops said it was 90% base defense, or something like that.

soonerpeace

Does that mean you are skeptical to a certain degree how good they will be? I don’t think they will impossible to move on. In fact our offense has had some success up the middle but perhaps Phillips can remedy that. I don’t question they have some holes but with Phillips,Stryker,Bond,Grissom,and Tapper they have some playmakers who will make their presence known.

Big Higg

No. That means I think they are going to be flat out awesome. The coaches are excited about this group and so am I.

Shifty

I loved seeing Striker and Obo in coverage.. Strker had good coverage and Obo w the int (which would have been a layout had Brooks caught like he should have)..Teams won’t know if the Jack is blitzing or dropping and there is gonna be a guy getting pressure they just won’t know where it’s coming from…including the safeties and corners…I can’t remember when I’ve been this excited about our defense..prob 2000,2001, 2002

Zack

I give it up to you on the perine stance not that I agree but it will be interesting to see if gundy plays him more than mixon with all the hype surrounding mixon. And Evans showed up for sure he might force us to actually use a 3-4 base over the nickel.

Super K

Hell of a post.

Rick

Totally agree dude. I have long thought Perrine was underrated. My thoughts on Knight were that he was facing a VERY good D, that sees him every day, who knows the play book and was keying on what they knew would be going on. They know him, what he does and he was without his “A” line and his favorite receivers. I didn’t read anything into his performance for DB’s that knew where he was going.

Learguy

Nice post. Agree Zach is MUCH better now than last year.

Tulsa Terry

Defense is disruptive not suffocating. Now I can talk football with my friends. Also Smallwoods downfield blocking will get him on the field.

Daryl

I disagree about Ford and Ross. I would say based on yesterday it is Ford, Brooks, and Smith. I saw nothing from Ross other than an athletic specimen but nothing that made me think play him.

Also is Sanchez really going to return punts?

Also I thought Austin Bennet looked best of WR group. Is McNamara now a WR? I don’t think I saw his close to line except one time.

BornABoomer

Perine is Huge, he looks like he’s in the NFL(minus the height)!!!!!… I sat next to the Recruit section. I had a chance to see Mixon and Quick walk past a few times, I believe I sat right across from Jonathan Alvarez and his family. Thaddeus LaGrone was in on a lot of tackles, he looked pretty good. Disappointed that Ross didn’t get more carries. Great Crowd!!!

rphdenton

…….is tfb going to have a write-up of the spring game…….thxs

Super K

For sure bud 🙂

Shifty

Loved Strikers bow to the crowd after back to back sacks…he’s something else…btw what a crowd!!kudos sooner fans

Ed Cotter

Really liked what I saw yesterday. Nice seeing the TE get some love and the defense was all over the field making plays and hitting hard. Liked what I saw from Smallwood as well.

Zack

That will make it easier for knight having a big target or 2 in the middle of the field. And then with all the big receivers coming in it should be easy for knight to find them.

j l

Striker is such a character, you can tell he just loves playing football, the bow was hilarious. All around the defense looked outstanding, only a couple of long runs by brooks. Sanchez looked great, was all over trevors throws.

I love how thomas throws a pick to obo that gets ran back to the 2, then thomas comes back in and gets to hand off for the score. That’ll teach em!

Is it likely ou will offer a scholarship to mayfield for the 2015 class? Also do schools sometimes help students who walk on to find other scholarships for academics or other things?

Zack

Also any info on ofodile’s trip? I thought I saw somewhere he made an unofficial visit to Norman sometime in the last week or so. Although I like other WR more than him I think he’s good and I think ou has a lot to offer any wide out